Improvement in the process of tannsnq hides



UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

SIMEON GUILFORD, OF LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS oF TAName HiDES, 65cc.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 2,332, dated November 10,1841.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIMEoN Gnrm oamof the borough and county of'Lebanon, in the State ofPennsylvania, haveinvented anew and Improved Mode of BatingHides in the Process of Tanning; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description.

The process of hating hides and skins consists in preparing a liquor or. fluid which shall extract the lime contained in the hides before they-aresubjected to the tan-vat. For this purpose the duugof fowls, &c., and the muriate of ammonia have been used.

My'improvemcnt consists in using the sulphate of alumina-common alum in solution with water-tor the purpose of extracting the lime and sapouaceous matter with which the hides are saturated. The acid of the alum unites with the lime, and the astringent properties of the alum add to the cohesion and strength of the hides as they come out of the lime,and at the sametime distend and thicken them, and cause them more readily to imbibe the tannin of the bark, of which-something v less is required in consequence of the use of the alum hating-liquor; I

I am aware that alum has been used in caring and dressing sheep-skins, &c.; but what; I

claim as an improrcmentiu the art oftanniug is the use of alum in solution, in the process called hating, for the purposes above described.

To enable those skilled in the art to make use of my invention, 1 will state that the quantity of alum used in solution ,with water to form the alum hating-liquor may be varied, but should be about six pounds for five hundred pounds of dry hides, and a proportionate quautitywhen the'hides are green or undried.

Thetime necessary for the hides to remain in the dung of fowls.

What I claim as an improvement in the art of-tanning, is- I The use of alum in the process of tanning with bark, and for the purpose of hating the hides, as specified above.

SIMEON GUILFORD.

Witnesses:

J. C. GOODHART, SAMUEL BOWMAN. 

